Spades Trump Hearts

Girls open their legs

for drug dealers, not office clerks 

fakes with clean shaves, lots of fat, and nice shoes

the girl in the coffee shop prophesied 

that I would make it to work on time

damnation is not for me 

power of the Holy Cross

and those motherfuckers breed 

and break bread

blessed is the Lord who prepareth my hands for battle because I'm in deep shit

keep my wits 

my head is clean and drug free

 cool like a coma in sunlight behind these 

Pit Viper shades of mine I keep hearing jazz cymbols echo from another place, another time did I write and stage my existence unfolding to the world, a full suit of spades is sharp and trumps the heart.

 

The Audacity of the Carefree 

 What dreams surround me

and what beets beneath this milky skin

cabbage headed monster that I am

still grooved like a gourd 

birdhouse beat under the ground 

my noodle sister inspire me

words be nimble like stalks of corn

words be quick like a Midwestern storm

demons be nimble, troublesome soul

demons be quick, the jester digs his own hole

bowed low stalks of wheat

just what makes him think he can be so care free

Jack be nimble, don't stand still 

Jack be quick, move a pickup truck around the world 

red radishes in the lips of spades and hoes' tricks

why does a whore want connection and to be kissed?

thrust ships into bone

dry lips we sail alone

images cut like ice 

I once prayed for you, I won't tonight. 

 It's not About You, Baby

When a ship has sailed, you really 

know it

don't ya

when an hour comes judgement

and violence 

sea storms over

Mare Nostrum 

that's our love

tears and wind

belong exclusively 

to us

the dream of Icarus

the promiscuity of Zeus

always with someone new

no fault of my own, my love only

grows and you have been filled

too full so send the deck hands

to throw buckets of water over board

prevent the capsize I am too much love

I shouldn't be holding a whore close

but if she allows it anything goes

if a gentle kiss on the neck

and a caress of her head 

isn't repulsed than 

neither will the 

wind that 

blows

relent

I will not go quiet or ease up

a calm sea is not love and this 

this

this is not about what you want

I am not Emperor Justinian and you are not Theodora

I want to save you

your perfume smells 

like the early nineties

you weren't there, but I was

you got me feeling like a mack

your street talk and street swag

shit brings me back

young girl, old soul

so high and yet not satisfied 

even though I went twice

and I awoke the next morning still feeling fire in my abdomen for your sweet insides and memories flash of you laughing with me in your belly

I want to save you

if only I were an emperor

and had the confidence

to know that I can

and there is no game with you

 

only cash

no waiting 3 days to call

no response times

no read receipts

only cash

a tight

red

dress

and what I want

but alas, I am not Justinian 

and you are not Theodora 

only past

like the only tattoo 

on your tight ass

Child of the Romans

Bow down

in the temple columns 

and blood train

before the gods

or the saints 

that have replaced them 

if you wonder 

why I'm in love with you

my ancestors sacked rome

for the girls

not the gold

and I will kill to 

capture your heart

but I don't have to

child of the Romans

bread and circus 

hippodrome and chariots 

do not offer what your insides do

I will kill for you, but would never lie to you 

Slip like Lightning

All energy returns to ground

the universe demands balance

I tried to taste someone new

but couldn't pull the trigger

come to me you negative spirit 

I'll fill you with positive vibes

come to me from the north babe

and I'll show you the south

all energy returns to ground 

we all seek balance

it's just my bad nature

and your good looks make a hell of a fire

I'm holding stars for you

make me pull the trigger

hands to the hips

we can slip like lightning into the ground 

 Pontificating on the Mississippi 

These days I find

my money

often lies

on the mud swole banks of the Mississippi 

river in bags soaked with black oil and bolts I'm found terminating powerhouse controls isophase links and a steady hand to hot glue steel makes the best lover you know it's true

throwing out nets 

for 12 hour shifts

and baby you 

won't 

get 

me 

because I don't behave well

navigate well 

this sea wall

this American river 

what's assumed you should know

ain't always so

start with a handicap 

and told it doesn't matter

the love has to be real

I'm not a social climber

fuck, my love is real

and my enemies are too

 Rythm of Faith

Who else knows 

and who else cares

out here, it is just us

we are our joy

steel and oil

my heart beats

for my friends

blood to my bones 

for them

and ticking clocks

beat the body for pay

and rythm of faith

that when quitting time comes

something better with it

Tame my Soul

 A hundred men come and a hundred men

exchanged for the next shift it's 

a dangerous game you're playing kid

I unfold smiles

my confidence and risk

God is not a magic wand

you get what you get

saints and all

unfolding like cards

every suit and smile from afar

and just maybe that's what they do

in another place, faces drawn up like the sun

unashamed

mask my inner being and tame 

my soul

 Angels Over Mare Nostrum

True story

I used to try and outrun angels

the peeling of a pear -

an unnecessary exercise

a woman's soul is behind her cervix

be damned if you can't get there

In love with a language 

a craft

power tastes better than pussy

if you can master it

stand

don't move

a religion takes over an empire

part two

in step with angels

marble statue

cherub round flesh

in doom and two

we will drink of the rose

and slice off the moon.

Soul Deep

(God in your life)

 When God came calling 

were you peeking around

the corner of that door -

way were you flirting with the idea of

me as your priest

I walk the edge of the earth

and look over the side

always wondering

on a Friday night 

symbols as old as time

relics of a crusade

remind there's a time to live but

mostly we die

in a word you were offered peace

but in another you said goodbye

and God only knows the reasons why for He is 

the only one who can touch your soul deeper than I 

Stay on Point 

 Music is good but

poetry is what makes it

so why not master the language 

It's that southern "bless your heart"      

shit 

that gets me excited 

you can sing but can you

outwit 

the devil and here ya are winning with a bully 

making him chase his tail and laughing like saint George spearing his head we the victorious chant a monotone song of champs 

it's a come around 

like a cool summer

a head to rest near

the edge of a lake 

with a camp girl

and a camp fire

make me warm

babe autumnal 

fire

words blow like 

smoke giving us

meaning and hope

warrior in a garden

another trope but also

a lifeline too many men 

gone to their preferred anodye

sedation is bullshit kid, get up get a 

grip

tilt your head back

just a bit

fast forward to the next millennium 

and the only way to do that is loose your seed

hard and fast 

the earth will recieve the strong

with open arms and joy

just keep your shit

and stay

on point. 

 

 

 

Pomegranate Seed 

(Of Persephone)

When we used to be sensitive to the spirits

you touched nature for the thrill of it

arrowhead in a riverbed and gods beneath 

the streams running wildly in advance

of things to come

dig deep touch

a conduit from 

another time there is a

print of a soul on it

she broke this mustang too quick

and I stopped her in the middle of it

thought of a lie and threw it out

quick but the damage had been done

Cleopatra with her adder 

and I am Mark Antony

stole her from Julius Cesar

with poison still in me

this stallion set free

spooked and foaming 

I rage

and we called it music

you did not know I was a god

myself kings and princes put on the shelf

you didn't know I was beyond your help

I am Hades lord of hell

collect your flowers

collect them well 

it makes sense

for me to 

have 

found you 

with a nymph 

and the earth will

open and you will

see  that there is nothing 

sweeter than pomegranate seed

Live in Bed, Die in Battle 

 Dream softly

enter the sedation

end of discipline

sun-soaked day

nothing but a breeze

removing droplets

from your skin

- stop this -

like messanger birds

breaking a buck out of the rut

epiphanies are flying to me

power of my fathers 

warriors of the Boyne

Jacobites with dark hair

and emerald eyes 

black Irish in my blood

won't be denied 

the savage in my 

love can't be hidden

I want more so I work more

hussars to my left, Celts on my right

my ancestors lived in bed and in battle

they died

 Full Circle

 What tells the wind

move certain ways

and what tells can you

read from these lines on my face

the taste of your home town

in another's embrace is 

an experience to behold

I'm aging but far from old

I'm often pensive when not jocular

and these rhythms of mood 

hold a small world, too big to paint 

like a corn crib near harvest holds the 

orange, September, moon in place

full circle is more than a cliché 

I believe it comes around in more than one way

The Cards We're Dealt

 A psychiatrist 

can give you anything 

but inner strength 

watch your sedations kid

and watch your sleeves

near that machine

I remember being

shocked and being 

pulled back to life

it's life we all want and money we all die for 

but only taste freedom and good things

in a fleeting moment through our sons

so breathe strong autumnal air

we're all headed for death at the end

of a candle you had best embrace that western sun red with a head held high and a confident chest it makes no sense to think of anything else but what we make with what we're dealt.

Blueprints of Intimacy

don't care where we stand

capitalize bird prints in the sand

don't care who knows

an Alexandrian library aflame

blueprints of intimacy

tied in a knot kiss my cheek it touches my soul your name the breastplate of Cleopatra gems enthroned a gleam set deep against the black I reached in and tried to touch your soul offered to tie you to the bed post did what I could I know I thrilled your cheeks reddened like the setting sun 

desire will have what it wants

 A Reprehensible Truth

I was born 

with a flat voice

because God

did not want me singing

He wanted me monotone 

and bringing 

poetry 

heat

Words

might blow 

through you 

like 762 rounds

AK47 Armor-piercing 

no flash supressor for the swagger 

I won't allow myself to be average

even the ugly don't like the average

Judge that 

truth as reprehensible 

but my words and poetry 

as the beautiful

Carl Sandburg's Soul

 Venture the journey

what the road does to 

a man's soul

binds his wounds and makes him whole

travel the craft

tools in hand

and coming home

cash in the bag

the land is flat and open

peeling back layers of stars

the wind hits the back

and the neck and holds 

you like a long friendship

midwest America hits different 

out here there is enough air 

to sweeten the soul

my friends

pork burning

corn turning

a two stroke motor's exhaust lingers in the background 

bourbon in oak

Carl Sandburg's soul

is in my nose

Slip

 Sunday morning

he said he made

her bleed 

bonds get

different as sands shape 

behaviors 

slip

"They all lie, they all paint their faces"

one man says,

"My honey's so good, can't replace her"

says another

I find the truth between 

and desire new sheets

something out of the dryer

recently, unsoiled, soft and 

clean slip your

shape to my bed

and fit well

the mattress is deep

fortune favors the bold

no matter the thread count 

I often find myself trying 

like the devil to replace the 

simplest of items

something not worth a whole lot

be damned, be caught

still slip off 

I must

build myself to tree-like

stature 

ignore the wanton 

lack of pasture 

and graze new towns 

I don't know what comes

after this

but I'll be 

damned if I let 

myself

slip

 

Tells

 Hot crickets lie

cool breeze on my

back and baby what 

was this and how will

you earn me back?

now I know

but maybe I don't 

be still my soul

for answers 

don't come easy

one needs time to adjust

the plot and see

are things as dark as they appear

have we stabbed innocence with a spear?

my soul, too

sits on this breeze

a change of seasons 

thrust upon us like my 

hips into yours 

I'll know all too soon

what to do 

for every curtain closed 

down the hall is a door

light always comes through

so clothe yourself well

artistry, prayers and time 

always do tell. 

Not Nice

 A candle keeps me alive

a candle goes, you know,

as our lives and hopes

who I wish you were

oh 

dear

how I wish you were her

i

am not nice in any sense 

of the word and still this 

hot candle burns

I've only been known

for my heat

only been loved 

for the heat that I bring

i

am not nice 

in any of the right ways

I devour my loves

and they always run away

I'm ok with these 

turning tides

i

not nice, have been known for 

quick desire

turn away when close to the fire

yet this candle still burns

whomever is in my room

my heart still yearns

for what I had with you.

 Against the Grey

When the rain 

has passed and

the sky is left only

grey

there is nothing

but the dull hum of transformers in a switchyard 1.5 miles away

nothing new to see here

just to share a beer

with someone

I do not know 

I know I wish it were whiskey

but I am making me strong

no one speaks of the dull drum

of discipline's lungs

breathing and beating

for it is a shadow

and shadows aren't particularly colorful 

after the rain 

even the sunset is grey

cigarettes don't even taste the same

like a suburban lawnmower in an HOA

personality without any taste

no one speaks of the race

only the glory of first place

but the race is what makes men

and I am being made 

by my own will against the 

grey

even tombstones 

spread wealthily 

amongst the green

excite the mind through

the eyes a contrast of colors

to be refined but the grave is on

furlough and our lives the waiting room

skeletons reclined waiting for a phone call

and when work calls

we will answer

I garuntee we will be on time

after the rain

is only a grey sky

same as a green isle

the green in hazel eyes

a patchwork of ancestors'

lives we pride ourselves on 

saints enshrined in stained glass lines

upward blow the pipes to the sky that is 

still 

grey

not a g'damned thing has changed

dull hums in the key of A

a soft protest of the 

season's change

a sharp blow

to the side

of the face

and when 

standing 

be it tall 

a rebellious

church against 

the rocks beaten by 

the seas also soft blows salt

briny foam and every other diadem 

set enthroned at the end of glory cometh 

on the other side of the

grey

 This river feels dead

but I know it's not black tree 

line and one owl speaks

the silence and the raptor 

remind me I dont know you

 With a Million Stars

Come here my love

understand I want more

most popular culture is

training for whores

I don't judge that

but understand 

I will fill your insides

I'll descend my hands 

to your sides 

back into me

call me daddy

my darkness

I am imbued with

the spirits of my dead friends

I am the new

Hades

and you are my Persephone

ride with me

die with me

your eternal hair

envelopes me

watch me murder Hercules

watch me reach higher than Icarus

watch me bite harder than Cerberus

baby, dream with me and let me fill your dark insides with a million stars.

 Our Preferred Blend

"She is

bad

-I mean in real life."  he said

the honor of her beauty, something 

to defend

draw back your wallet pic, son

you won't be home anytime soon 

habitually a man doesn't draw back

and I never apologize for that 

risks I took - consequences be damned

I always feel 

and am never shook

my brother is in a wilderness 

a place I have been

home would be nice

and so are warm friends

but the brotherhood of oil is thicker than all of 

them

muscle and steel nothing soft in this black land

fuel and blood we build with our hands

our lives shortened and saturated by our preferred nicotine blend

 

Hope is the Secret Sauce

 Twenty two and half degrees to the left

rain cuts the trees of forest 

push down leaves in darkness

I have to sleep but this is no challenge 

for 

I am the terror

I am the sasquatch 

the lord of this manor of darkness

man never fears the wood

the wood fears the man 

for 

will to kill is more

powerful than an instinct

this shrub is an ode 

to my strength 

not here to kill or

destroy with wanton

only calculated 

and clean

within reason

bravery's reward is

greater than fear's comfort

a man juts out in the wild

like the trees jut out to the expanse 

a bold attempt to touch the stars

don't let up on your hope boy

hope is the secret sauce that makes us men

despondency is a warm blanket to smother your desires' end

Only Darkness is My Love

 Sick lines

and hot metaphors

I have a few hours

I present them as an offering to an ancient god

a little bit of black ink 

and a little bit of mystery 

mixing in the bloodstream 

isn't it invigorating?

my love

my lady

the night that you bring me 

is darker than shadows on a white page all my ink spilled will ever be 

black, cloud covered night, rain thrashing trees

my heart is contented and over joyed with thee

it's you

 and your dark hair, eyes and breast-peaks

that 

enthrall 

me.

Die Like Moses

 A transformer sings electricity 

behind me, it's something you cannot see

only the work from steam 

to tea

only steel and the roar-thrum of turbine

passing by a thousand times per second

one magnetic line of flux 

throws an electron down an isophase

through space time at a frequency 

that cannot be denied 

High voltage electricity is like God

If you were to see that which keeps you alive

Like Moses, you too would surley die.

 The Vision That Fills My Soul

Cicadas are a dog whistle to the end of summer

a bold whisper against the cool breeze and clear autumnal sky

laundry waving on a line

pencil in my life - sketch or an outline

of time passing by

like a speeding Amtrak

click clack against the rails, my heartbeat

the engine's thrum, my rushing blood

I wouldn't stop until I see that smile in front of the sun, cheeks turned up making your eyes tight and teeth like soldiers at bold attention, proclaiming thier victory.

we

dream

until colored

leaves filter sun 

and alchemize her fingers

gold and that is

the vision that

fills my

soul

Hotter, Coarser, Blood

 Couldn't move past you

fast enough

Couldn't get over your seductive words

in time

I took a drive 

and realized 

you sold me the dream

and it's still alive 

and I am vivified 

hotter, coarser, blood there cannot be

my mind is lapping the intensity

Alpha Widow

Fire signs playing with fire

desire unfurled and you know 

the place where I put you 

and there I stood

alone and smiling in the dark behind 

by reason of conversation you belied

and I wanted to destroy you

to wreck you 

to widow you

and I did it

Marlboro to the mouth

swift inhale and I realize the work 

wolf hunger and the spirit of a mustang

Baby:

you can break a boy's heart

But you cannot break a man

wolf hunger and the spirit of a mustang

desire unfurled and you are left wanting

Desire waning

 Here I am 
Dreams unfurling
And there you are
A rain falling in the past

Here we come to the sounds of birds and dementia, our years of gold richly adorned with crowns of mistakes not yet forgiven 

This is a poem of mortality 

And this is a dream of wisdom 

It's all come full circle my love

I never had you and you never had me

It was all a dream, yes a dream

With stained glass circles and beams

Of light filtering through

Desire is still in me, but the fire is lower.

Laugh at the Rest of the World Together

We just might and
Run and create a
New story, together into the night, would you like that? Because there is no use for the past

And

We can make it and still be
Responsible dammit
Just wait until we get that
Fuck you money

And

Laugh at the rest of the world together

We should just

Hey, we really should observe what the sun is doing in the morning and the evening. 

And

We should do it with coffee or tea.

Things to Come:

 

Hope Ain't a Thing of the Past

Youthful imagination has me picking through the bones,
going through the motions
sometimes astonished,
sometimes perplexed by your beauty
a goddess ocean

and I'm back into the church
with the elder Zosimov,
such fine discernment of souls
watch me as i go,
joyful regeneration,
a candle flickering through the motions

With one look into the future
I can break Abraham Lincoln's
depression and see the blissful outcome'
of liberation coming to generations

I saw a monarch fly over my head when
I was getting new messages, from a new friend
hope ain't a thing of the past
it's recklessly here and now
and coming back

and time is my ultimate lover,
bringing things full circle
i often sit forward and wonder
at treasures to come and treasures asunder

this cool blue water
makes me feel as comfortable
as the heat of your conversation
and it's what I know,
is good and sent flowers
and I bow to your physiognomy
you trade it for worship of my dignity

you know it's gotta feel right
pay attention to each other
be good to each other
I've learned by candle light the
depth of the earth she loves me
through every season
life and death again bring it back to
restoration

hawks and monarchs are my friends and they speak
to me inaudibly signs that all is well and all will be
well

youthful imagination has me picking through the bones,
going through the motions
sometimes astonished,
sometimes perplexed by your beauty
a goddess ocean

a dream yet uncovered and 

sandals yet to be removed

under and over the blue

and oh god do i beleive

in the good things coming

hold your breath and count to ten

youthful imagination has me going again

Four strong winds
One from each corner
Pay attention to them
Pay attention to each other

Could it be there is life on the other side
And that this is but a season and time
Moves too slow and too fast
When we want what we like

Insert a metaphor or speak from
The heart, the gods desire a reunification
Pay attention to them
Pay attention to each other
Be good to each other
Time is the flavor
Of many kinds of love
One of which are the good things to come

Put a beat in my step
And a smile in my shoe
And I'll walk with the new
And the clock is still stepping
And smiling and I'm ok with that
Because I'm smiling, too
Pay attention to time
Pay attention to each other

I don't believe for a moment
That the subtleties of your
Hips swaying generously
Were anything more than
An invitation into darkness

Cold, covered black space
I too, dream of death's release
We make whole black skies
And white moon devoid of
Stars and the wind that conjures ghosts on top of waves now creating violently is what neither of us has the power to refuse a dance that is reckless and wanton like the skin beneath the feathers of a raven rhythm can release desire and bones of lives once lived now in decay and in company of only tears in the fabric of the universe that extinguish by default and design
color,
sound
and light

Raise gray rocks as anthems to a new god
Wash and steal the sand
Backward into abyss
I don't believe for a moment this was anything less than a kiss

Rose cracked red dawn
and all who sailed
were now alert
to the law

of reaping and sowing
and things concrete
broken by tragedy

Start a Religion

Cool your breath, like orange leaves
the color of fire on the ground
welcome death, a blank tree
tall
and proud
we could plan a wedding or
start a religion, beginning at the end
waiting for a cold embrace
and more sideways glances

from the followers
or guests
reap a harvest that lies
heavy on our chest

we can build a fire
or flirt with death

the exhaust from either
would thrill me

invent new dances
and dreams, set vividly
against the now quickened sunset

orange is the color of my love
and it burns quick but goes down slow
languid is the turn of the earth
I teach in this sordid ritual

spirits are in agreement
but are they guests or will they follow
us into a clouded, cool night?

These are the fallen leaves
autumn leaves behind
the dirt that was once alive
and kind

dance the orange twilight
in seduction turn her black
the robes of broken dreams
and the past season

conjure new ghosts and new demons
we can build a fire
or flirt with death
plan a wedding
or start a religion.